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Mats Wilander believes Roger Federer made an ‘obvious mistake’ by not playing on clay last year and backed his decision to return to the dirt in 2019.

The Swiss confirmed his plans to compete at the French Open and other clay tournaments this season following his fourth-round Australian Open defeat at the hands of Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Federer has not competed on the clay since losing to Dominic Thiem at the Rome Masters three years ago, while he has not featured at Roland Garros since 2015.

Indeed it’s been eight years since he last reached the French Open final and a decade has past since he got his hands on the clay-court Grand Slam.

Federer won the French Open in 2009 (Picture: AFP/Getty)

But Federer is set to push himself for a second title at Roland Garros and Wilander backed his decision.

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‘I think, not playing last year, was an obvious mistake because he lost at Wimbledon in a tight match and would’ve benefitted from more match practice,’ the Swede told Eurosport.

‘2020 is a season that’s definitely on his calendar because of the Olympics and I think he’s building now to be at his very best in the only event he hasn’t won.

‘I think playing the clay season is more about being better and improving, you can see he’s still got it and that’s the cool thing with him he’s got it.

Wilander gave his verdict on Federer playing on clay (Picture: Getty)

‘During the match, he’s tense and nervous so clearly there are areas he feels he needs to fix to help him win Wimbledon. Playing two weeks on clay is going to help him, big time.

‘This is the best news to come out of last night [Sunday]. It’s good for the game, it’s a huge void when he’s not there and the fact that he’s making these decisions now and plans his calendar. It worked in 2017 but it didn’t work last year.’

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Wilander is unsure if the 37-year-old Swiss will get his hands on another major title.

‘We thought this was going to be the best chance for him to win a major until we saw how slow the balls are, and they’ve made a huge difference,’ he added.

‘He needs the perfect conditions to be a threat to win a Slam, and that could be at Wimbledon, or could be at the US Open, but to me it’s all starting to depend on conditions.

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‘I don’t think he can hang with the other guys, for seven matches, playing high-percentage tennis. High-percentage choices maybe, by moving forwards, ripping shots and taking the ball early, but in terms of keeping the ball in play and defending, those days I think are over.’

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